Slip Under Her Armour
by SereneCalamity
Summary: Veronica Mars was somewhat of a mystery. LoVe. Oneshot.


**I got inspired in my latest rewatch of V Mars. God, I can never get enough of that show. Haha.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the characters. **

Veronica Mars was something of a mystery.

Logan Echolls actually remembered her at the university where he had studied his bachelors degree, from some of his criminology classes, but he had been focused on getting the best grades he could and proving his father wrong, so he hadn't paid all that much attention to her. There had been girls, of course, and the occasional Teijuana bender, but none of them had been girls that required too much chasing and attention, because he had things he needed to accomplish before he had time for that. She had been good friends with a girl that his best friend, Richard 'Dick' Casablancas, had been panting over, but other than that, and the fact that she _always_ got a better grade than him when they were posted online, Logan really didn't spare many thoughts on her.

Oh, and than the fact she was cute and had a killer smirk.

Then he had moved away to go to law school, and that was three years of his life gone in a fog of too many late nights to count, practically injecting coffee into his veins to keep himself wake, studying his ass off to the point where his brain was screaming to stop and finally passing the bar and getting a job as a first year associate with Kane, Beckard & Spector.

That was when Logan finally had a chance to breathe.

To be happy with himself, to take stock of where he was and just _breathe_.

His father, Aaron Echolls, had said that he would never get here in life. He had told him that he would be nothing more than a spoilt man-child of an Oscar winner and a Hollywood socialite who had committed suicide, living off his mothers trust fund and never making a name for anything other than just another rich kid.

At least, that was what his father _had_ said, almost seven years ago when Logan had last seen him. He had no idea what he was thinking now, and in all honesty, he didn't care.

Or that was what he tried to tell himself.

But that was where Veronica Mars had popped back up into his life.

She was kind of...A behind the scenes girl at the law firm. Officially, she had the title 'investigator', but Logan knew for a fact that she did things that normal law firm investigators didn't do. She was the one that almost everyone in the firm went to when they had something that they just couldn't find themselves, and after a few hours, sometimes a few days when it got particularly difficult, she delivered. She delved into the personal lives of their clients and their opponents as skillfully as a surgeon with a knife, and most people in the firm were as scared of her as they were in awe of her.

Logan was one of them.

She didn't talk all that much and she definitely didn't share things about her private life, although Logan managed to find out a few things about her.

One, she was the same age as him. Maybe that wasn't such a big thing, but it was the first thing that he had found out.

Two, she had started working here after she had gotten her degree in criminology, so around the same time he was starting law school.

Three, she was friends with the _Kane_ family in Kane, Beckard & Spector.

That was it.

That was all he had really been able to find out.

At least, until Lilly Kane went missing. Lilly was the youngest child of Jake Kane, but she wasn't looking in following in her fathers footsteps into the law business, or any other job, really, more in her mothers direction of being a socialite. It was actually kind of strange to imagine her and Veronica as friends, given how hard Veronica clearly worked, but the morning after she was reported missing, Logan saw Veronica in at the office, and she looked a mess, her face was pale and her hair was in a messy bun on top of her head and she was still wearing the clothes from the day before. It looked like maybe she hadn't even left the office the night before.

The firm had to continue it's business, they were a multi-million dollar law firm with clients all over the country, some even in other countries, and they needed to continue performing at the top of their game, but things in the offices were tense.

Veronica was barely around, and neither was Jake.

It was late one afternoon that Veronica came to his office, her eyes bloodshot from the lack of sleep and her clothes rumpled. She looked him up and down and Logan shifted in his seat, unsure of what was going on as she nodded decidedly.

"I need you to come with me," she stated.

"Where are we going?" Logan asked, but he was already getting up and taking his suit jacket off the back of his seat.

"No questions, hurry your ass up," she was already walking away and Logan had to pick up the pace to follow after her. They reached the elevator and there was already someone else waiting for the elevator, a third year associate that Logan recognized, but when the doors opened, Veronica sent him a glare and he took a step back, letting the pair of them go inside and she jabbed the button for the basement. "Alright," she began as they whizzed downward. "I need to make a pit stop at my car, but then we're going to take yours to meet with this Abel fucking Koontz."

"Who?" Logan screwed up his nose.

"Abel Koontz," Veronica repeated, venom in her voice as the elevator doors opened and they were in the parking space for the building. She lead the way out, over to where there was an old Le Baron and opened the boot. She took out a briefcase and then slammed it shut and looked at him expectantly. "Where's your car?" She asked impatiently and Logan swallowed hard as he nodded over to his own. It was nothing like his yellow Xterrra that he had driven all through high school and then also taken to university. He now had a much more mature and incognito car, a black SUV, and Veronica seemed to approve as they walked over to it, and she got into the passenger side.

"Where are we going?" Logan asked as he started the car.

"Just drive, turn left out of the parking lot, and I'll direct you from there," Veronica replied, the briefcase on her lap and her phone gripped tightly in both hands. Logan frowned but went with it, reversing out of the parking spot and then driving out of the basement. Veronica only spoke to give him directions, sometimes not until the absolute last minute and Logan had to cut across traffic to make the turn.

It was only after the third time that happened, and Veronica was swearing under her breath, that he realized she was getting directions on her phone—that she didn't know where they were going either.

When they finally reached their destination, the wharf, Veronica told him to slow down.

"Alright," she said, patting her hands on the briefcase. "I'm going to get out here, okay?" Logan arched an eyebrow. "I need you to put in of these in," she pulled two ear pieces from her pocket.

"Why?" He asked.

"Just do it, okay?!" Veronica burst out and Logan was so surprised by her out burst that he just took it and put it in his left side. She always seemed to calm and together, but recently, he had been seeing cracks in her armor. Obviously she loved Lilly a lot. "If you're asked if you came here alone, you say yes, okay? And when he asks for the money, just give him this briefcase. He's going to increase the price to try and throw you off, they always fucking do, you just tell him that it's all there."

"The money?" Logan's eyebrows pulled together.

"The ransom money," Veronica was already getting out of the car, sliding in her earpiece. "I'll hear everything he says through this. If it seems like the occasion is there, ask where she is, but don't push it, you don't want to make him suspicious," she tapped at it the earpiece to test it, and Logan heard the vibration through his own one. "Just stay calm, and it'll be fine." Then she was closing the door and running off, not taking the main gate into the wharf like Logan was about to.

Where _she_ is.

Ransom money.

They were saving Lilly.

"Great," Logan mumbled under his breath as he shifted his car into drive and drove forward. He wasn't sure why Veronica had chosen him for this task, but there was a girls life at stake, so he squared his shoulders and kept on driving. It wasn't long before he was parked right alongside the water front, and he really wasn't sure where else he was meant to go, so he stopped the car and got out. There were shipping containers to one side, the water on the other, and some buildings behind him.

The place was eerily quiet, and Logan swallowed hard as he looked around, waiting for further instructions from Veronica through the earpiece, or for someone to approach him.

He didn't have to wait long.

"Are you here on behalf of Jake Kane?" Came a raspy voice from behind him and Logan's head jerked, his body turning around to face whoever it was approaching him. The man was a lot older, with a beanie pulled over his head and wearing an old coat that looked as though it had seen better days.

"I am," Logan hoped that his voice came out firm and steady.

"You got the money?" The man grunted out, and Logan assumed that this was the Abel Koontz that Veronica had been talking about.

"I do," Logan dipped his head in a firm nod.

"I want double," Abel stated, his lips curling in a nasty sneer, as though he expected that to falter Logan. Except that Veronica had said that this was normal, and so Logan tried to keep his expression neutral.

"They always do," he said, repeating Veronica's words. "It's all there." Abel raised an eyebrow put then he thrust out his hand. "Where's Lilly?" He asked and Abel shook his head, clicking his tongue against the roof of his mouth.

"Money first," he stated and Logan nodded. He hadn't been in this kind of situation before, but he had been in plenty of tense ones, where peoples lives have been on the line before. It had never been on a wharf with waves crashing against the sides of the jetty beside them and a man who looked like he might have a gun tucked in his waist band, but he had had people relying on him to prove they were innocent so that they could go home with their families and weren't sentenced to a life time in prison, and he had learnt how to hold himself when he was in uncertain situations. He kept his back straight and his shoulders pushed back as he walked back to his car and opened the passenger door and took out the briefcase that Veronica and left there, and turned back to Abel.

"Here," Logan said, holding out the briefcase with a neutral expression on his face. Abel snatched it away, his hand shaking a little, and Logan wondered if he was on drugs. He knelt down, keeping his eyes on the Logan while feeling his way to the latches and flipping them open. "So," Logan attempted to keep his tone light, as though this was an everyday occurrence for him. "Where's Lilly?"

"She's close by," Abel said before dropping his eyes and looking at the contents of the briefcase with a sharkish smile.

"Ask him again," Veronica suddenly spoke into Logan's ear, and if Abel had been looking at him still, he would have seen Logan jerk in surprise at the voice, before regaining his composure. "Ask him where she is," she sounded a little breathless, like she was running.

"You said that you wanted the money first, you've got it. _Where's Lilly_?" He repeated himself for a third time, his voice no longer quite as carefree as it was before. Abel let out an annoyed grumble.

"She's in that office," he jerked his head over his shoulder to a line of run down offices. Logan looked over there, and he could a flash of blonde hair.

"Keep that fucker busy," Veronica panted into the earpiece. "I'm not letting him get away with this."

"You've got your money," Logan began, not sure where to lead this conversation, since it was obvious that Veronica was going after Lilly, so he knew that he couldn't exactly ask Abel to take him over to the offices, but he needed to keep him talking, and ask something. "Now tell me, what was your reason for taking her?" Logan knew that he had said the wrong thing when Abel froze, looking up from the suitcase and Logan _really_ hoped that Veronica had something to say in his ear to help him out, but she had gone completely quiet.

"You're not the person I was texting," Abel said, his voice sounding tense as he rose to his feet, slamming the briefcase lid shut and gripping the handle. "The person I was texting contacted _me_. They knew why I had taken Ms Kane and what I wanted in exchange." Logan pursed his lips together and he felt nervousness rising in his chest, toward his throat. "The person said no cops, no one else," he started looking around, and he was flexing the hand that wasn't holding the briefcase, and Logan didn't like the fact that the hand started moving behind him, as though reaching for something.

"No you_ fucking don't_," came a hiss, and then suddenly Veronica was appearing from behind some of the shipping containers, with an angry looking blonde behind her wearing a tight silver dress that was hitched up around her thighs and smeared make up with no shoes on. Lilly Kane.

Abel turned around, but a moment later, Veronica was pulling something out of her pocket and Abel suddenly jerked and was going down.

"What was that?" Logan asked, his eyes.

"Her taser," Lilly smirked as she reached down and grabbed the briefcase from the mans grip, spitting down on him, her nose twisted up. Veronica was already walking toward Logan's car, not waiting for the other two, and putting her phone to her ear. .

"Yeah, dad? We got him, come in now," she said into her phone before pulling open the passenger door and looking back at the other two. "Come on, Lilly. Let's get you home." For a girl who had been missing for three days, she didn't seem at all bothered, walking quickly in bare feet to catch up with her best friend and get into the passenger side of the car with the briefcase swinging in her hand. Logan got into the drivers seat as Veronica got into the back of the car. As they were driving out, police cars came driving in. The man in the first car jerked a wave at them, and Lilly waved back, beaming, as though she was just going for a drive through the park.

"Friendly with the local sheriff department?" Logan asked as they drove past all of the cars coming, sirens screaming and lights flashing.

"Ronnie's dad _is_ the sheriff," Lilly replied. Veronica was quiet in the back, and Logan took a page out of her book and didn't say anything the whole ride back to the law offices.

Abel had worked at the law firm as a janitor for almost twenty years before it was discovered that he was taking copies of a lot of the computers at nights when he was making his rounds and selling them to other firms. He had been discovered and fired nearly two years ago, and had apparently burnt through all of his savings and was now dying of advanced stomach cancer and wanted to leave some money behind for his daughter, Amelia DeLongpré, and so he had come up with a get rich quick scheme that also got back at the employer who had fired him.

Too bad Veronica was smarter than him forty times over.

Things were thrown into fast forward in Logan's career from that point. Jake was incredibly appreciative of Logan's part in Lilly's rescue and all of a sudden he was being invited to more of the important meetings and being brought into the bigger cases. Lilly came by quite a few times, usually on her way back from seeing Veronica, and she would usually flirt a little, but she never seemed to be too serious about him.

Especially when she showed up with some biker guy who looked completely infatuated with her, although Veronica made a comment under her breath to Logan that it was just to fuck with her dad's head.

Things with Veronica had moved forward as well, although not as much as Logan's career. She wasn't an easy one to crack, though, and those emotions that had been flooding off her when they had been on their way to get Lilly were still the most intimate thing that he had gotten from her, but they had a lot better relationship than before—as in, they actually _talked_ now. She helped him out on a lot of the new cases that he was getting and sometimes they went out for lunch. They never really talked about anything personal, other than a few passing comments, but she was funny and she made him laugh and he really liked being around her.

Technically, he should be more worried about his career, but he kind of felt as though he had been put in the same place at the same time as Veronica for a reason, and he had been so focused on his career for so long, and he needed to make sure he was taking time for himself as well.

At least that was what he told himself when he left work before five-thirty on a Friday after Lilly dropped by to ask what he thought of her ass in a new dress that she had brought that morning and then whispered that it was Veronica's birthday and she was going down to her favourite bar down town to get herself a drink before going back to her place where her dad was having a surprise dinner and drinks for her.

Logan had taken Lilly's tip off and left work and headed down the block to where he had seen Veronica a few times. Sure enough, she was in there, wearing the pair of dark jeans and a loose blue shirt with batwing shirt that she had been wearing today. Logan approached the bar, flicking a smile at the bartender as he moved to take the stool beside her.

"Whiskey, neat. Thanks," he said and the bartender nodded, moving over prepare his drink. Veronica turned her head at the familiar voice and smiled when she saw him. "This seat taken?" He asked with a grin.

"Sure is," Veronica grinned back at him, turning her bar stool around to face the other one. "By your fine self," she winked at him and he let out a laugh as he sat down.

"A little birdy told me it was your birthday," Logan continued as his drink was slid across the counter. He flashed a smile of thanks at the bartender before focusing his attention back on Veronica. She made a face, wrinkling that adorable button nose of hers and letting out a groan.

"A little birdy named Lilly, by any chance?" She asked knowingly and Logan just grinned in response. "She tell you where I would be?"

"Technically no," he replied. "She said you'd be at your favourite bar, I deduced that it was this one."

"That's some great detective work, Ninety-Nine," she teased him and he grinned at her, tipping his tumbler in her direction before taking a sip. She drank from her beer and they were quiet for a few moments, in a comfortable kind of way. Logan figured that it was now or never that he say something, and he downed the rest of his whiskey before taking in a deep breath.

"There's something I want to ask you," he began and Veronica arched her eyebrow at him, but nodded. "Why did you come to me, the night that you went to make the trade with Abel Koontz for Lilly?" Veronica realized that they had taken quite a serious turn with their conversation and she pursed her lips before answering.

"Well...It was later, at the office, and the weekend, so there weren't many people left in the office," she said slowly. "Then...I mean, I remember you back in uni, you were solid, I never heard anything bad about you, and I hadn't in the time that we were working together, and with the work I do, I _would_ have heard something if there was something to hear, so I figured that you could be trusted. Plus, you were big enough to have my back if things went badly. And..." Veronica shrugged, wrinkling her nose again before letting out a heavy breath. "I don't know, I just felt like I could trust you, you know? And I could, obviously, because things worked out for the best." Her cheeks actually looked as though they had reddened a little, and Logan took that as a good sign.

"Yeah? You feel like you can trust me? Is that why you've told exactly three personal things about yourself in the time that we've been getting to know each other?" Logan gave her a gentle smile to show he wasn't pushing her too hard. Veronica sighed and shrugged a shoulder.

"Yeah, I've been told I keep up this wall of armor around myself...By more than one person, although it's Lilly that says it the most," she rolled her eyes playfully. "Even moreso since you've been around, she seems to be _really _pushing it."

"Yeah, I could never really tell if she was flirting with me, or if she was trying to get in the insider scoop for her best friend," Logan let out a laugh and Veronica laughed along with him.

"Definitely both, knowing Lilly," Veronica grinned. "I don't think she's met someone with a heart beat that she doesn't flirt with."

"Even you?" Logan smirked.

"Even me," Veronica wiggled her eyebrows at him. "Although that's a high school experience I won't be repeating." Logan's look of interest made her laugh again and she shook her head before inhaling deeply. "Alright. I've known Lilly since I was six years old, she's my best friend in the whole entire universe, although I wouldn't even consider her my best friend, more of a crazy non-biological sister, in the best sense. My mum left when I was twelve and is an alcoholic, and up until two years ago, I still tried to help her but I have recently come to terms with the fact that you can't help someone who can't help themselves. My dad is simply the best person in the whole entire universe and I wouldn't be where I am today, or have such a love for Bruce Willis movies, if he wasn't around. And I've had a thing for you since our Criminology classes together, when I was twenty, but you were always so wrapped up in your studies to notice me."

Logan blinked.

He really hadn't been expecting all of that to come out in one go.

But he appreciated it.

And having a thing for him since college?

That made him blink again.

"I might also add that I have a tendency to research anyone and everything that comes into my life, so it's probably the creepy the amount of things that I know about you, but that's just who I am," Veronica continued. "The whole policing and detectiving thing runs in my blood, and it makes me good at what I do, which is why Jake Kane hired me, but it also means that sometimes things and people in my personal life can be affected when there's lying and secrets, so...That's something I should be upfront with you about." Logan nodded.

"Well..." he exhaled heavily through his nose, scrambling for something to say. "Did you know that I stole a packet of gummy worms from a corner store when I was seven?"

It was Veronica's turn to blink.

"No," she replied, a twinkle in her eyes.

"Then I'm glad I told you," Logan grinned. "Because all other secrets in my life are far less interesting than that one." The laugh that Veronica let out was a little louder that it needed to be, but it was clear that she was relieved. "You want to get out of here?" Logan asked.

"Sounds perfect," Veronica grinned. "Although we'll have to go to your place, because my dad is organizing this surprise birthday thing at mine."

"You really do know everything huh?"

"He and Lilly do it every year," she smiled lovingly.

"Just one thing before we go," Logan said as he slid off his bar stool, standing up tall and looking down at her.

"Mm?" Veronica looked up from where she had been getting her credit card out of her wallet and he reached out to cup her face, his fingers curving under her jaw. Her expression instantly softened, and he saw the rest of the walls in her eyes fall down, leaving her face open and exposed to him, her mouth slackening slightly. He leaned down and brought their mouths together in a soft, short kiss.

It was perfect, and held the promise of everything to come.

**Let me know what you think x**


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